Archive for 2020

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

To assist education institutions in transitioning to temporary remote instructions of classroom-based courses, Quality Matters (QM) has created an “Emergency Remote Instruction (ERI) Checklist.” The three-tiered list includes considerations, tips, and actionable strategies, according to prioritized needs. The QM ERI Checklist is organized into three columns to first provide instructors with recommended actions, then add a brief explanation of the action’s importance and impact, and finally, a column to reference related Specific Review Standards from the QM Higher Education Rubric™, Sixth Edition.

This checklist is a useful tool for individual faculty as a prioritized checklist for remote teaching and as guidance for instructional designers and/or educational technologists who are working with faculty in a rapid development process to temporarily move classroom instruction online.

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced today that the office of Federal Student Aid is executing on President Donald J. Trump’s promise to provide student loan relief to tens of millions of borrowers during the COVID-19 national emergency.

All borrowers with federally held student loans will automatically have their interest rates set to 0% for a period of at least 60 days. In addition, each of these borrowers will have the option to suspend their payments for at least two months to allow them greater flexibility during the national emergency. This will allow borrowers to temporarily stop their payments without worrying about accruing interest.

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

The response to COVID-19 has impacted virtually every industry in this unprecedented time, and the publishing industry is no exception. Here at SAGE Publishing, proud partner of AACTE and publisher of the Journal of Teacher Education, we’ve focused our response on supporting the higher education teaching and research communities we serve as we navigate this difficult time together.

We are committed to doing what we can to support the researchers, teachers, and students in our community. We know that the work of the research and teaching community will be critical to addressing the challenge of COVID-19, and we’re happy to share the resources we have with the readership of the Ed Prep Matters blog.

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

The following AACTE Statement was sent to the National Governors Association.

During the health emergency of COVID-19, AACTE is encouraging its members, as well as states and districts, to explore partnerships between district and educator preparation programs to address the increased workforce demands for special educators in our nation’s schools. In particular, we urge stakeholders to

Identify opportunities for special education teacher candidates to continue their contributions to educational opportunities for students with disabilities (e.g. clinical practice opportunities or paraprofessionals in temporary positions) for the duration of the impact of COVID-19 on our school system.

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

AACTE has joined this coalition to provide support to the nation’s teacher leaders and educators during the coronovavirus pandemic.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), an education nonprofit that works with the education community to accelerate the use of technology to solve tough problems and inspire innovation, today announced the launch of COVID-19 Education Coalition—a diverse group of education organizations focused on curating, creating, and delivering high-quality tools and support for educators as they keep the learning going during extended school closures caused by the global pandemic.

“In this time of uncertainty and rapid change, school system leaders and educators are being inundated with information. This is an effort to cut through the noise, and provide a coordinated response to the urgent need for accurate information, responsive professional learning and contextualized resources,” said Richard Culatta, CEO of ISTE. “We’re coming together with over 50 of education’s trusted associations and nonprofit organizations to help ensure educators have what they need to support students and families.”

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

On March 25, 2020, the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan third stimulus bill known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, aka the CARES Act. The U.S. House of Representatives will take up the measure on March 27, sending it to the president for his signature. At this point in time, conversations are beginning on whether or not a fourth stimulus package is necessary.

Education Stabilization Fund: This includes flexible funding that will get out the door quickly and go directly to states, local school districts, and institutions of higher education to help schools, students, teachers, and families with immediate needs related to the coronavirus, including:

The AACTE national office team is thinking of everyone in our community during this uncertain time. While we also are experiencing the upheaval resulting from this pandemic, our primary goal is to continue to serve all of our members. To that end, AACTE is engaging in a number of efforts to support our members at this time.

To empower you to continue to access critical support and resources, AACTE is extending the membership renewal deadline to April 30, 2020. We want to ensure members remain informed as matters related to COVID-19 continue to develop.

At a time when the nation’s universities and colleges are moving to an online learning environment, AACTE is prepared to support the transition through webinars, resource sharing, and engagement. Next week, technology and online learning experts from the AACTE Innovation and Technology Committee are hosting a 90-minute webinar, Thursday, March 26 from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. The webinar is open to all AACTE members.

The How to Transition to an Online Learning Environment webinar will address transitioning to online instruction for 30 minutes, followed by a 60-minute Q&A session for members to ask questions of AACTE resident experts. Much like virtual office hours, AACTE members can access our Innovation and Technology Committee members with questions specific to their local context.

The webinar will be recorded and hosted on our resource page for members to access at any time.

The University of Central Florida (UCF) has moved their work with TeachLivE to remote servers to allow teacher candidates throughout the duration of the COVID-19 Pandemic to use simulations of classrooms to observe student teaching competencies. UCF invites teacher educators from other teacher training institutions to use the TeachLivE platform.

TeachLivE now has the capability to observe student teachers interacting with elementary (option for inclusive setting), middle, and high school (option for inclusive setting) classrooms. Users may request English Language Learning avatars (Spanish).We also support preparation for parent-teacher and teacher-principal conferences. These virtual simulations can occur with an instructor observing a prospective teacher interacting remotely with students in one of the TeachLivE environments or used in an online setting with peers watching each other to provide feedback. The instructor can record data about specific student teaching competencies and providing feedback to the prospective teachers.

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

As the United States responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal agencies connected to the education and care of our nation’s higher education and PK-12 students are releasing information and guidance for taking action, as well as flexibilities and waivers offered.

The U.S. Department of Education offered a phone call to K-12 stakeholder on Friday March 20, 2020, with officials from the Department, the CDC, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Department has posted a readout of the call, with links to resources on servicing students with disabilities, student loan relief, student privacy, and more.